


my family lives in a different state

by MiaouMiaou



Series: High Rollers Soulmates AU [3]
Category: Yogscast "High Rollers" D&D Campaign
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Meeting the Parents, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates AU, and so is elora, and then it does, and then it doesn't again, but it is set in the campaign storyline, it doesn't follow the canon, like so awkward, nalistri is really awkward in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-03 22:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10259870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaouMiaou/pseuds/MiaouMiaou
Summary: Now back in Talis'Val, Elora is excited to see her parents again, but things get a bit awkward when they meet her soulmates. It doesn't help that they also meet Nalistri Frostwalker, which only makes things even more weird.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This one is iffy but I wanted to put Nalistri in there, and also just have that really awkward meeting the parents thing.
> 
> so I'm sorry that it's not written the best, but I wanted to just get it done.

It really was exciting for Elora to arrive back in Talis’Val to the news that her father and mother were in the city as well. It had been so long since she had last seen them, and she was really, truly excited. She had always been close to her parents, her father who had taught her combat and encouraged her mischief as a child, and her mother who had taught her the ways of druidic magic. She loved them both to the ends of the world, and so seeing them again was exciting, even if everything else in her world had been chaotic.

Althadon smiled when he saw his daughter, wrapped her in a tight embrace and spun her around, and Aletha smiled as they exchanged quick greetings and small talk for a moment. “How has your quest been?” Her father asked, and Elora shrugged.

“Well, we found the autumn spire,” She explained. “But I’ve been a bit busy with other things, I haven’t found any of the others yet. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Her mother replied. “You are doing amazing, moonbeam.”

“And I’ve heard from Korak that you’ve helped him!”

“Yes! I, well, me and my companions, we found a greater resurrection scroll so we were able to help him from an assassination attempt. It was the right thing to do, I’m just glad that we were able to.” Elora smiled as she told the tale, and she could feel the strange tingling that emanated from her soulmark that rested on the inner part of her upper arm. It had done that when Cam had performed the spell to save Korak, and recalling the event seemed to trigger the feeling as well. The same thing happened with the one on her back, whenever she thought about resurrecting Jiutou. There had even been a similar feeling when Trell had blacked out down in the underdark.

The thought warmed her heart and Elora realized that a lot had changed since she had last seen her parents. She had experienced so many things, gone on many adventures and met so many people. All things she had hoped of doing, but she never thought that she actually would. And yes, her quest had gotten sidetracked for various other things. Even so, she wouldn’t change a thing.

As she stood there, looking at her parents, whom she had never hidden anything from in her entire life, Elora suddenly felt like she couldn’t share everything with them. She had found her soulmates, all three, and she was sure that her father would be disappointed. After all, Trellimar, Cam and Jiutou were a strange group of companions, and not at all what Elora had daydreamed about as a child. But it was better, somehow, that she had three soulmates as her best friends and travelling companions. And even if she did tell her parents that she had found _them_ , she didn’t want to have to explain everything. Some of it felt too personal; Jiutou’s death, the quest into the underdark, Cam’s glowing hair. They had been through so much, and she still wasn’t sure if she fully understood her feelings. Because even though she loved all three of them and would protect them to the end of the world, Elora still found herself frustrated and angry and betrayed so often. Was that how soulmates were supposed to be? She didn’t really know. She knew that platonic soulmates existed, but she hadn’t really met many people with this same experience.

Her parents were soulmates, and they only had one soulmate each; each other. Elora had three, and they all had each other as soulmates too, which made things less complicated, luckily, but there was still a lot that was unknown and it terrified Elora. She still wasn’t sure if she could feel angry, even though she had been furious with Cam, especially after he had killed Dimitriv. Jiutou was secretive and rash, and Trellimar was completely mysterious. Weren’t soulmates supposed to trust each other? Her parents shared everything and loved each other so much, and they had always been that way. Elora had never seen them fight.

What if there was something wrong with her? Althadon had already been concerned when Elora had three soulmarks instead of just one. What if she had messed up the soulmate thing somehow, by fighting with her soulmates? What if her parents hated them?

So instead of sharing what should have been the most exciting news that Elora had ever gotten, her mouth dried up and she fell silent, letting her parents worry over her. She’d deal with the news later.

 

 

* * *

 

Elora had had a plan. She was going to tell her parents that she had found her soulmates, and then she was going to introduce them to her parents one at a time. And she was going to have talked to each of her companions ahead of time.

But like most things that involved those three, it didn’t go according to plan.

She hadn’t even mentioned the plan to anyone when a knock came to the door of the suite that they were staying in, and not thinking much of it, Elora didn’t get up when Cam went to answer the door. She really hadn’t considered the fact that it might have been her parents stopping by.

And of course, like so many things that didn’t go her way, it was her parents. And instead of meeting everyone over a nice meal, with everyone dressed up, they were all shockingly underdressed. A good portion of all of their layers of clothing were left in their own bedrooms. They had just been relaxing and chatting, so there hadn’t been much need to get fully dressed, and though everyone was decent, Elora suddenly felt naked.

"Hello?” Elora’s father looked confused as he was met with Cam’s face at the door, which of course, the human had thrown open wide, letting the elven king and queen have full view into the room. “Elora?”

“Oh, hello father!” Elora sprung up to her feet, wishing she was at least wearing shoes. “What brings you over here? We had plans for dinner with Korak?”

“Yes, but your mother and I wanted to stop by.” Althadon scanned the room, looking more confused the longer he looked around. “Are these your travelling companions?”

“Elora, you didn’t tell them about us?” Cam asked in a very overdramatic way. Elora wasn’t sure if she could possibly be more embarrassed, and was hoping that her blushing wasn’t that obvious. “Well, good to meet’cha! I am Camulus Buckland, from the Buckland family, proudly! This here is Trelli-belli, and then there’s Jiutou, who is grumpy, so don’t get too close. We’ve been protecting your daughter. Well, I say we, but it’s mostly been me.”

“Buckland, shut up,” Trellimar said as he stood and pulled his coat on, shooing the sleeping Granamyr off of it. “Ignore him.” This was directed at Elora’s parents.

Jiutou looked up, getting to her feet as well, and bowing deeply in front of Althadon and Aletha in a respectful gesture. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Elora has been a wonderful companion. She has saved us a great many times.”

“I see.” Althadon looked at Elora’s strange companions and then shrugged, turning his attention to his daughter. “Your companions seem very interesting, little moonbeam.” He smiled. “I must say though that I had another reason for coming to see you before our dinner.”

“Oh?”

“Yes! We are going to be joined by Nalistri Frostwalker for dinner tonight, and I thought I should let you know.” Elora frowned, trying to remember if she knew the name. “He’s the youngest son of Lord Cilandris Frostwalker of the Winter Spire. I don’t believe you two have met yet, but Cilandris seemed keen that the two of you meet.”

“Yes, of course.”

“He’s about your age, you know. And he hadn’t found his soulmate either. And these things tend to be between elven royalty, so…”

“Oh. Oh!” Elora’s cheeks warmed, and she was really wishing that her father wasn’t so awkward and open. Implying that she might be soulmates with this Nalistri? In front of her companions, who happened to be her soulmates. “Uh, no, father, I don’t think that we are. We couldn’t be.”

“What makes you say that?”

Elora turned to look at her companions, her eyes wide, but none of them offered any help. She sighed. “Well, father, mother. I uh, I found my soulmate. Soulmates.”

Althadon froze, looking confused. Aletha gave her daughter a curious glance. “Moonbeam, why wouldn’t you tell us?”

“I wasn’t sure how you would react,” Elora said, scrunching her nose. “And I’d introduce them, but, well,” She looked back over to her companions, who all gave awkward smiles or waves. “You’ve met.”

“Oh. Yes, I see.” Althadon coughed. “Great to meet you all. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Elora. I will let you be, and I will see you all again at dinner.”

“Yes.” Elora nodded quickly, ushering her parents out of their chambers and closing the door behind them with a heavy sigh. “Well, that could have gone a lot better.”

“It’s good to meet your parents, but I think your dad wants to rip Cam’s donger off.” Trell said after a moment. “And I think I probably shouldn’t go to that dinner because he definitely thinks that we are more than just friends.”

“I’ll clear it up.” Elora winced. “Oh stars, that was _awful_.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Miss Elora.” Jiutou said, patting the elven woman’s shoulder and giving her a smile before returning to her room.

The druid just sighed and slumped down onto one of the couches. “I hope so.”

* * *

 

 

They met up again later, Mina rejoining the party as they went to meet up with Korak and Elora’s parents once again. They all had a hearty meet up as everyone was reunited, and they were soon joined by Shalana, Payla and a few more elves that Elora didn’t recognize.

“This is Nalistri Frostwalker, who has been sent by his father from the Winter Spire.” Shalana introduced the lanky elven man, after they had all caught up with each other.

Nalistri offered a curt bow, speaking cautiously, “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My father sends his regards. It is… Good to meet you, Lady Galanodel.” He spoke the last part directly to Elora, and then bowed. Elora frowned at him, wondering what it was that was making him act so awkward. Perhaps her father had mentioned the soulmark thing to him before he knew the truth about Elora’s soulmates. Instead of speaking, Elora bowed back to him, trying to be formal. But judging by Cam’s snort as she bowed, she hadn’t done very well at that, and it was probably just seen as more awkward than anything. Who could blame her though? It was an awkward situation, considering the conversation her father had had with her earlier. “If you all want to take a seat, I’ll explain some of the situation. I’ve been informed, Lady Galanodel, that your companions will be accompanying us on this trip, so I’ll give you all the same information.” Elora couldn’t help but notice the stress that Nalistri had put on the word “companions” so, maybe he did know. Or maybe he was just an unpleasant person, which is what Elora was beginning to think.

Nalistri began speaking at length about the problems in the Winter Spire, while Althadon bothered Elora, whispering questions about her soulmates and about her adventures. Thanks to him, she missed out on the first bit that Nalistri had said, and her father didn’t quiet until her mother elbowed him, and he shut his mouth. It wasn’t until Nalistri was reading the letter sent from his father, that Elora really payed attention, and she didn’t really take note of anything until the elven man said, “I have sent an—an _emissary_ of the Winter Spire to guide you.” It was said with distaste and pain and Elora suddenly really wasn’t sure what to think of the man. He was strange, but it seemed like there could possibly be a reason.

Instead of really listening to everything else, or the plans for the journey, Elora focused on the man, trying to suss him out. He was thin and bony and pale, and his outfit wasn’t anything spectacular. He did wear a few pieces of jewelry, including a rather wide-set bracelet that had slid farther up his arm, and Elora highly suspected that it was meant to cover the neat loop of print that ran around his wrist. She too, had worn a bracelet like that when she was younger, wanting to cover up the soulmark that laid there. People tended to ask about soulmarks that were visible, and Elora didn’t like people trying to guess who her soulmate was. The amount of times that she had been told that somebody recognized the handwritten were far too many to count, and so Elora couldn’t blame Nalistri for doing the same. She didn’t bother much with covering the soulmark now, now that she knew her soulmate who had the matching mark, and she could just say that she knew who her soulmate was.

The man excused himself, saying some excuse about being tired and wanting to rest before the journey tomorrow, and with that he left, only leaving Elora with about a thousand more questions about the man. “Strange lad, but that’s to be expected from the Frostwalkers, really,” Althadon said as he got up to leave as well. “They aren’t known to be the warmest. Nice boy though, ey, Moonbeam?” Elora nodded, though she wasn’t sure if that was the word that she would have used to describe him. “Anyway, your mother and I are leaving with him tomorrow. It’d be good if you came.”

“Yes, I think we should all travel together.”

“Yes, yes. It’ll be good. And Shalana and Payla will be joining us as well.”

“Yes!” Cam shouted, and Elora held back a giggle as Althadon gave the human man a glare that clearly showed his distaste for his fascination with the elven queen. Elora wondered if maybe it was because Althadon didn’t want any of her soulmates messing around with other people. Then again, Cam was seemingly the only person who couldn’t seem to comprehend the fact that Shalana and Payla were soulmates—and very much in the romantic way. Elora knew that Cam wasn’t the smartest of people, but at this point, it seemed more like he was just trying to ignore the reality of the matter.

“We’ll have a feast first. A celebration!” Althadon exclaimed, and there was no doubt that a celebration was warranted. It would be good to keep everyone’s spirits up before they headed off on the arduous journey to the Troubled Lands. Everyone split up to either rest or to watch Korak and Althadon spar, and the awkwardness that Elora had felt from Nalistri was nearly forgotten in the good spirits of it all.

That is, until there was the noticeable empty spot at the table that Nalistri was meant to be at. No one said anything about him missing, but Elora was somewhat worried. She didn’t voice this though, letting the feast be fun and loud and full of laughter, Cam’s ignorance only causing more laughter around the table than he meant it to, and only thickening the tension between the human man and Commander Payla.

As dinner finished up, Elora excused herself, deciding that she needed to speak with Nalistri if she wanted to figure any of this out. It was no good to assume things, it only led to misunderstandings, after all.

Nalistri’s guards were standing outside his chamber, but they made no move to stop her as she knocked. “Yes, come in.” The man said as he answered, the door, and Elora entered the room, shutting the door carefully behind her. “Can I help you?”

“I was just wondering, you seemed a bit concerned—or,” Elora started, feeling very awkward herself. She hadn’t really planned how this conversation was going to go, and it already seemed to be off to a bad start. As she spoke, she watched Nalistri glance down at his wrist, moving the bracelet slightly, and then quickly looking over towards Elora’s wrists as well. Noticing this, Elora wrapped her hand around her wrist, covering up Trellimar’s handwriting with a frown.

“Forgive me.” Nalistri seemed to recover from the awkward moment fairly quickly, continuing on in the conversation as if the strange exchange hadn’t occurred at all. “It’s just the Troubled Lands, really. There’s been problems, and the journey is a couple of days. It’s dangerous, is all. Nothing to concern yourself with, I suppose. If there’s nothing else, then I’ll see you tomorrow? I assume you’ll be coming along.”

“Yes, but I was concerned that you seemed a bit off. And--”

“I’m fine.” Nalistri insisted. “I don’t need your sympathy or your help.”

“And well, you seemed a bit angry or flustered at me, and I wasn’t sure if my father had maybe said something.” Elora wasn’t going to just give up, even if he was being rude. She could do the same back to him, if needed. She was tired of trying to be a proper princess at the moment, and fed up with him.

“Your father?” Nalistri scoffed. “What does your father have to do with anything?”

“It’s just that he said something weird to me earlier, about you.”

“Oh?”

“Well, you know the soulmates thing.” Now the conversation had truly become an entirely different level of awkward, but Nalistri looked up, suddenly interested. She could feel his eyes glancing at her wrist, and could tell that he was thinking. “It’s just that my father told me earlier that he thought that maybe you and me might be…” She trailed off, feeling awkward.

“Oh. Uh, well. That’s, uh, upfront.”

"Yes. Yes, it is. Which is why I wanted to apologize if he made you feel awkward, if he mentioned anything to you.”

“Your father didn’t say anything to me.” Nalistri licked his lips and then looked at his wrist, reading over the words that were written there. “ _My_ father said it was a possibility, but well, I wasn’t sure.”

“Yes. So I’m sorry for this whole mess, and I’m sorry if it made you angry at me or whatever. Hopefully we can put the whole thing behind us.”

“Behind us?” Nalistri echoed, looking at Elora’s wrist again.

“See, my father didn’t know that I had met my soulmates already, so it seemed like mostly just a big misunderstanding.”

“Oh. Yes. I see.” There was a sudden movement as Nalistri went to cover up his wrist with not only the bracelet, but also his hand. “That’s fine.” The tense atmosphere was back again, much thicker than it had been earlier. “Great. Uh, thank you for trying to explain, but like I said, I don’t need your sympathy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait, Nalistri--”

“Please leave.” His voice was cold as a magical hand appeared out of nowhere, opening the door, and Elora gave the man a distasteful glance. That was how this was going to be then.

“Fine,” She said through clentched teeth. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” She left the room, gritting her teeth together as the door slammed shut loudly behind her.

“Have a good evening, Lady Galanodel.” The guards bowed respectfully, but Elora was in a mood now, and not one for pleasantries.

“You too,” She grumbled as she made her way back towards her chamber, wondering what exactly she had done to make Nalistri Frostwalker hate her so much.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to eventually go back and put in some things that happen between these little snippets, but this'll do for now.
> 
> As always, you can find me over at [ chat-miaou.tumblr.com ](http://chat-miaou.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thanks for reading! You guys are amazing and make it really fun to write stuff like this! :)


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